Page 37 of Tangled Weeds

“Ah, yeah. I threw up and basically forced myself not to look past Easy the whole time we were playing, but once we started, I just focused on the music and that helped a lot.”

“I’ve seen videos you did not look nervous,” Jeremy said.

“Fake it til you make it right?” I said, but deep inside I remembered how terrified I was of fucking up and how relievedI was when we walked off the stage triumphant and I fell into Johnny’s arms.

A few hours later we were on our way to The Chili Factory. I forced myself not to tap my hands on the seat in front of me as we made our way through traffic and finally pulled the van up to the place that looked more like a warehouse than a bar and grill. “Is this right?”

Johnny checked the address and nodded. “Yes, this is the address Tanner gave me.” Jeremy pulled the van around to the back of the place and Johnny and I walked inside to find out where they wanted us.

“Do you think it’ll be busy tonight?” I asked.

“Hard to tell. Thursday is a wildcard,” Johnny said as we walked back to the van to tell everyone where we’d be setting up. The other band was already setup and ready to play so we brought everything in but stacked it in the back of the stage out of the way. We walked out just as they were starting and they opened with an explosion of sound that made everyone in the restaurant take notice.

“They’re good,” Johnny said as he focused on each of them.

“Yeah, now we need to show them how good we are,” I said, and he met my eyes with a smirk.

“Yeah, we do,” he said before kissing me hard. The first band only played a fifteen-minute set, so as they were walking off, we were walking onstage to set up. More people were streaming in, so it was a little different setting up while people were eating. But we had it down now, and it wasn’t long before we were ready to go. After a final soundcheck and a nod to Johnny, he stomped out to the front of the stage.

“Hello, Albuquerque, we are Anchor Grey!” he screamed, and we blasted out the first song. Before it ended most people in the restaurant had forgotten their food and were dancing in front of us. We went right into the second song and when Johnny ran behind where I was playing and grabbed a handful of my hair to pull my head back for a kiss, I didn’t mind one fucking bit. He took and I gave, just like I took, and he gave. We were equals and both of us were focused on two things. Making the band great and falling in love with each other over and over every day.

The End!